As an entrepreneur, you must have heard: »You have to be online, you have to create leverage for your business ». Webinars are doing both and yet, just the thought of getting started generate so many questions. How to create engagement? How do we promote webinar to cold traffic? How to build your own portfolio of webinars? What are the best practices of webinars? What basic equipment do you need? How to use webinar as a lead magnet? What platforms or tools should be used? What is the return on investment? How to get more than 30% showing up? How to create connection in a webinar? How to sell with integrity? What not to do? How to package and price it, if there is a price? What should be the length?
Webinars create freedom and allow entrepreneurs to do business everywhere, without limits. Scott Armstrong limitless concept started with him playing with animals over 30 years ago. Sitting at a soulless desk as a corporate banker, he was deeply frustrated. He knew there had to be more for me than pushing paper.
Three years later he was operating Canada’s largest rehabilitation centre for abandoned exotic animals – his lifelong dream come true. As a result an incredible myriad of wonderful creatures became part of his family – swimming with jaguars, running with wolves, playing in the snow with tigers, helping an owl take flight again. These activities had replaced his corporate banker’s desk — and he was ecstatic.
He wanted to help others feel the incredible satisfaction that comes from doing what one loves. His next step – helping people create their own Limitless adventure. Over the last 20 years he has worked with over 2000 businesses and individuals to help them create and grow.
Scott presented a session on webinars at CAPS convention in Ottawa. Here is a re-CAPS of my notes:
THE HOW’S & WHY’S OF A GREAT MARKETING CHANNEL BY WEBINAR EXPERT SCOTT ARMSTRONG
Why?
Increase your reach
Significant revenue generator
Can be repurposed
Evergreen – automated so you can expand your reach. Multiplier effect.
Increases credibility
Lead them to a sales funnel
Purpose:
Educate, not to sell
85% use of webinars to educate – not to sell
Length:
10 to 15 minutes or 45 minutes to an hour.
What is your desired outcome?
Know the purpose. Conversion from a prospect to a client. Build a community.
Client engagement and webinars
Initial awareness from Facebook, referral, etc. leads to education item number one.
Example:
Offer a PDF reflecting 5 challenges that most people look for. Three days later, offer a quick two minutes video of people who have gone through this process. Two or three days later, offer a free webinar on the subject.
This free webinar will upsell into a paid webinar which will upsell into an ongoing engagement. We are never finished with a client once they have purchased from you.
It takes 17 times for someone to actually pay attention to you and to become a client. It takes 17 touch points according to the latest surveys.
Webinar formats
Live: These are cool, in the moment, and allows you to show vulnerability
Hybrid- part recorded part live
Recorded
What not to do.
Don’t wait until the end to sell something. People don’t like to be tricked, let them know at the beginning, we have someone of interested to you. Only if I do a great job, then I will offer you something. Ask: »Do you think I did a great job? » then offer them what promised. Don’t talk about what eventually you will talk about. Give value right away.
FIVE KEY STEPS FOR WEBINARS
Promotion: Don’t pitch the webinar. Pitch the promise. What do they care about? Highlight the solution, the desired outcomes and result. What would that sound like if you were giving a webinar on professional presentation skills. Provide an impactful result. Promotion to cold audience and warm audience. For cold audience, give them a quick PDF free magnet, 2 give-aways, offer to attend a webinar is coming after.
Registration
focus on the solution and the language you want to use. Provide one low key change and provide a solution. 1 tip. Chose 1. Chose the one with the biggest impact.
Attendance – Gotowebinar – Zoom – WebinarJam (WebinarJam has a 10 sec. delay). Choose a platform that works for you and your budget. Make sure to set reminders emails from your webinar hosting platform. Add more value each time. In the reminder email, tell them again what value they will get. Expect 20-40% attendance for a live webinar. Free webinar, then 30% purchase from the attendees.
The webinar
Checklist sheet for the participants to do. shut down other softwares that are open, mute all participants, etc. be in a very good state. B-roll (a series of video or slides reel that plays in a loop before the webinar is about to start) creates a warm up time, powerpoint to cycle through. Did you know that the average person…., interesting facts, humour as well, take them from a state of being, have a B-roll playing in the background, mini slide show playing while people are there, it plays in sequence.
Early connection is key, interactivity, your voice is KEY. You need to fill the gap and you can watch people log off. Show face at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. Polls and surveys, i.e. How many of you are hosting christmas at home, interactivity, ask them to write in the chat box, every 5 or 10 minutes, at least 1 touch point. Between 5 and 6 touch points for a 45 minutes webinar.
How much to teach? Pdf downloads, dont try to teach too much in a short period of time. 3 or 4 learning points, things you make them feel is what they will remember. Less theory, more stories, they will remember that. Always have a story to anchor in. Don’t give away everything in the webinar. No workshop, no diving. Offers: if you are selling, then let’s get on with it. Close off the webinar, here is more value, if you are interested. You have to fight through the business of everyone’s day.
The follow up
Say thank you, reminder about the offer, within a couple of hours, stick to it if you said there was an early bird or a limit. Thank them and add a touch point with offers. Invite them to the next session. It is a client engagement system. Don’t let it die. Next day is too late.
The technology – your studio (which can be on the beach in Maui, like Scott loves to do)
No support staff. Good microphone. Headset. Platform. $500 per year or $40 per month.
The recording will be available 24h afterwards.
Don’t tell people in advance because the sales will happen from the people who actually took the time commitment to show up. The recording available is not giving you quality prospects. They did not even « bothered » to create time or make themselves available. You can tell them afterwards: »It will be available in the webinars archives for a subscription fee. » As soon as you mention recording, they won’t make the time to be there.
Pricing:
2 or 3 tiers
Free webinar. Then $27 to $47 product.
Then $200 to $500 range.
Evergreen is where I want to be. Evergreen pays so that I can do something else. Leverage is ideal. Take time to create something along this line, it has to be fed and refreshed and adapted and yet, it can be.
Tools
Screenflow is a software to edit a recorded webinar.
Green screen, you can then have the webinar behind you and point with your finger on the powerpoint and show the presentation behind you.
To know more about Scott Armstrong Limitless, join him on his website here.